Takeoffs and Landings

Google's Flight Search landing page reveals a clean, Spartan service.

Google Sept. 13 released the first iteration of its Flight Search service, a flight route and fare finder that will help users find the most direct, cheapest and convenient flights. The service leverages data from ITA Software, the company Google acquired in April this year after a protracted Justice Department investigation over whether the deal would be anti-competitive. The DOJ approved it with stipulations, and with that green light, Google was off and running. In early tests, eWEEK found Flight Search to be super speedy, albeit limited to just some U.S. cities. "We chose to focus on a subset of the most popular domestic itineraries to launch this first feature focused on accuracy, speed and user experience," said a Google spokesperson. "As the technology builds out, it's a priority for us to add coverage as soon as possible." With that caveat, the granular filtering tools and visualization were a blast to use. Check out this quick-and-dirty graphical tour of Flight Search.